More than 60 people were killed and scores more were injured when wildfires ripped through central Portugal near Figueiró dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pêra.

According to Jorge Gomes, the secretary of state for internal administration, nearly half of those killed had been caught in their motor vehicles as fast-moving flames enveloped roadways. While the cause of the fire is not immediately clear, officials have suggested that a lightning strike, coupled with the seasonal arid landscape, was responsible for starting the inferno.

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